Flights to and from Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports declined in the first three months of the year, new figures show.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) figures show that commercial flights at the three airports declined by 3.8 per cent in the first quarter compared to same period last year.

While there was a marginal increase of 1.2 per cent in en-route traffic movements, that is the number of flights crossing Irish airspace but not landing here, total air traffic for the first three months was down 1.8 per cent. For the month of March, total flights in Irish airspace decreased by 1.2 per cent when compared to March 2011. This reduction was attributed to the continued downturn in international arrivals and departures at the three State airports.